Pep Guardiola passion well received by players he has approached
Pep Guardiola had a heated moment with Southampton's Nathan Redmond at the conclusion of Man City's dramatic win. Following a narrow win over Southampton, Pep Guardiola hits out at opponents' overly-defensive tactics when playing Man City.
Pep Guardiola's confrontation with young winger Nathan Redmond following Manchester City's 2-1 win over Southampton on Wednesday night certainly looked odd. The City boss grabbed the Saints players around the shoulder and shouted in his face, leading to calls from some for the Football Association to charge him with improper conduct.
Guardiola insisted afterwards that he was telling him what a good player he was and he has now been backed up by Redmond, who said the City boss was "only very complimentary and positive."
"When one of the world's best managers compliments you or gives advice in any way, you listen," the 23-year-old said in a statement posted on Twitter.
It's the latest in a list of postmatch incidents that have prompted much debate about Guardiola's actions but, as Redmond did, the players have, so far, taken it as a compliment to be singled out by arguably the world's best coach. So who else has he approached on the pitch?
Joshua Kimmich
One of the most famous incidents came after Bayern Munich's 0-0 draw away to Borussia Dortmund in March 2016 when Guardiola stormed onto the pitch to speak to young centre-back Kimmich.
To many in the 80,000 crowd at the Signal Iduna Park, it looked like he was admonishing the German defender as he grabbed him around the back of the head and manically spoke inches from his face. In his news conference after the game, Guardiola explained that he was telling him that he had the potential to be one of the best centre-backs in the world. "He's got passion -- he's got absolutely everything. I love this lad," he said.
Kimmich, 22, went onto to make his debut for Germany two months later and has now cemented a starting place in Joachim Low's side going into the 2018 World Cup.
He told German newspaper Bild in November that working with Guardiola was "an incredible experience" and added: "He is also very detail-orientated, very creative and puts big demands on his players. What he knew about the opposition and the way he practiced formations was impressive. My teammates were always exactly where Pep Guardiola had prophesised."
Harry Arter
In February this year, the Catalan was on the pitch again -- this time to speak to an opposing player following City's 2-0 win over Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium.
Guardiola hugged Republic of Ireland midfielder Harry Arter and wished him well with the birth of his child. Just 14 months earlier, Arter and his partner Rachel's daughter Renee was delivered stillborn.
"He offered his best wishes for me and my partner this week, which was an unbelievable touch," Arter told the Daily Echo after the incident. "He is someone I have a massive amount of respect for. I watched his Barcelona teams and look at his Manchester City side. For me, he is the best manager in the world. I don't think there's anybody close to him and what he has achieved. For him to offer that to me, I respected it and accepted it with a smile on my face."
Alexis Sanchez
Guardiola has no made secret of his desire to sign Arsenal forward Alexis Sanchez and the Chilean was close to switching to the Etihad Stadium in August until the Gunners pulled the plug at the last-minute.
If Sanchez had any doubts that he was wanted by Guardiola then they would have been put to bed on the two occasions the clubs met in the Premier League last season.
Both at the Emirates and the Etihad, the City boss embraced the 28-year-old warmly. Anything more that that would not have been well-received by Gunners boss Arsene Wenger, who is determined to keep him.
Sanchez is not one to often speak publicly, but he reportedly wants to work with his former Barcelona boss again and he is likely to move to City in the New Year -- possibly in January or at the end of his contract in the summer.
His own players
Even away from the intensity of a match, Guardiola can look just as confrontational as he drives home his message about what he wants to his players.
On the occasions when cameras are allowed into training at City, he can be seen frenetically swirling his arms around, switching directions, grabbing players and pointing in their faces.
Kevin De Bruyne, Raheem Sterling and John Stones have all been seen to go through this and all have praised the coach for improving them -- as have plenty of his old players at Barcelona and Bayern Munich. Clearly, it's working.
Jonathan is ESPN FC's Manchester City correspondent. Follow him on Twitter: @jonnysmiffy.
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Source: espn.co.uk
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